Category : Protest

It was a pleasure to participate in the 2019 Women’s March in Washington, DC, this past Saturday, January 19th. The spirit was high, and so was the generosity among my fellow marchers at Freedom Plaza.

When a metro train is full of your fellow protesters, you just know the day is going to be great:

But, then there was a surprise visit from…Mike Pence, the most overpaid protester of all. And…like so many of his right-wing brethren, he was pantsless, but this time not behind closed doors with his mistress:

Oh, this poor guy, to go through life looking like that robotic, remote-controlled nutjob. But, he is doing good things with his god-given lot, such as collecting money for worthwhile organizations such as VoteRunLead.org…love on ya, man, for doing so much for the good of all of us.

As always, there were plenty of great signs with fantastic messages…and great girls and ladies holding them:

There’s nothing like taking out the trash, is there? It reduces the stink…

Good news, if you run like a girl…

…and do you see that “Free Food” sign to the left in the above photo? It was true…there was a stand that had hot drinks, water, homemade baked goodies and even burritos, free for protesters.

Okay, enough about the food…now, it’s on to the hair styling. Prepare yourself, this is one looooooooooooooooooooong-ass combover:

…but no worries, We Shall OverCOMB!

And, of course, some men of quality showed up:

Love on ya, guys…

No, those who are secure in themselves do not fear equality, they welcome it. Equality lifts all into positions where they can make all things possible. We need it, bad, and for sure, we don’t need any more hearts of ice:

One of the most to-the-point signs I saw came as we rounded the corner during the March on the way back to the rally point:

’nuff said, and perfectly at that.

There’s been a lot of talk about draining the swamp, so this last image says it all:

Down the drain with that swamp-thang…and those who enable them. The nation is paying too big a price for coddling a block of the most ignorant voters.

Resist on and be well,

Alison

June 30, 2018 – Today was a hot one in Doylestown for the #FamiliesBelongTogether Rally at the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown, PA. But that didn’t stop hundreds of people from showing up and taking refuge under the nearby shade trees lining the streets of Doylestown Borough near the Courthouse at 11 am:

This was a protest near and dear to my heart, being from a family – like most families here in the US – that derives from immigration. On my mother’s side, Brits, French, Germans, and Irish. On my dad’s side, Irish. My grandmother on my dad’s side was an Irish nurse from Arvagh, in the Republic of Ireland, who came as an immigrant to Philadelphia along with her husband – my grandfather, who came from Ulster in Northern Ireland. My father was a dual national of Ireland and the US, as am I, as is one of my uncles who lives in Manhattan.

We are lucky.

In the past few years, some conservatives have labeled me as “not a real American,” due to my two passports. As if I could only be from one place in the world as an American, how narrow is that? Migration – and the seeking of ever-better things for oneself and one’s family – is one of the best qualities of the human condition, and it has gone on for all of time. It will continue, because free will never dies.

As one who treasures my heritage and the stories it tells, I would like to see all of us tell ours in the US of A. Because, like it or not, if we’re not Native American, we came here from somewhere else – whether we came here of our own volition or were brought here against our will. I propose a national holiday called Heritage Day. Because this is our history, all of it. And those who choose to forget it are doomed to repeat it.

In the US right now, shamefully, we ARE repeating it. A vote for Trump was a vote against all those who served fighting Hitler’s army. It was also a vote against everyone who works, as Trump never has. Those who were duped by Trump’s appeals to tribalism, which is nothing more than divide and rob, were duped by the oldest ploy in the book: Playing one working class person against another for votes that enable oligarchs to continue their grandiose jobless lifestyles at the expense of us all. And our environment. And, and, and.

I was glad to see so many people out and acknowledging this under the midday sun in D-town:

Many sought refuge under trees, but nevertheless I became a source of sunscreen for those of us with sensitive skin:

Doylestown’s mayor, Ron Strouse (D), spoke early on in the rally, and talked about current levels of distrust of the government not being this high “since 1968.” I could not agree more:

Representative Helen Tai, who was just elected to the PA state house for district 178 also spoke, just after Mayor Strouse:

Lots of people asked me what my sign was going to say, and I didn’t know until the morning of the rally. The slogans came in a flash, and yet another two-sided placemat sign was born at the local UPS store:

Lots and lots of people tapped me on the shoulder and wanted a picture of this slogan! How can one look at oneself in the mirror, knowing where you and your family came from, and not want to swear like the sailors who brought so many of us over here?

It is such hypocrisy – and it is the worst form of “I Got Mine” that I’ve ever seen. And, being a cancer survivor in America, have I ever seen a lot of those.

But, I realized that people care. A lot of people, including some who fucking care (great sign!)…

…and others who simply care…

…and as always, Jesus was there to try to balance things out (and say he REALLY cares):

Some signs drove the biggest points home, ones we have to look out for, like this one, which reminds us that “legal” does not necessarily mean “just”…

This one brought to mind a quip that I’ve heard over and over: “For my friends, the world. For my enemies, the law.”

Some signs were very colorful, and featured the overall themes for the nationwide protests going on today:

Some reminded us that this has all happened before, so what’r’we doin’?

Yep…

One sign quoted Simon & Garfunkel…and this has got to be the favorite line from one of my favorite songs of all time, that rang true today so well:

And yet others kept it short and simple (and spot on):

But my favorite signs are like this one…and they can be seen on lawns and porches all over Doylestown, and in so many other places across the country, they are just great!!

And in parting, please click the little circle with the “+” sign on it at the top right of this page and GET ON IT!!!

Now more than ever,
Alison

January 20, 2018 – 11 am

The 2017 Women’s March was unforgettable. Never have I seen so many people on the streets in DC, or felt such a resurgence of energy for all things equality.

While it was Las Vegas, Nevada that hosted the main Women’s March in 2018, we who showed up at the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool for the 2018 Women’s March to the Polls in DC weren’t exactly disappointed, either.

It was cold, and just a day before, the anti-individual liberty, consumption-uber-alles crowd had shown up, leaving their “Defund Planned Parenthood” signs in the rubbish, right where they belong:

As I, along with my awesome, feminist boyfriend (a real one, not one of these gaslighters offering you praise on facebook and abuse-talk in private) made our way toward the Lincoln Memorial, I ran into plenty of kindred. Having been called a “witch” on several occasions by the woman-hating crowd, I really got into this person’s costume:

I’ve been called plenty of interesting names by those who purport to “wuv da wittle baybees,” including those who’ve lovingly told me in their best Jesus-loves-you voices they were “glad I got cancer” because I “would kill babies.” These woman-hating totalitarians don’t fool me with their claims of “sanctity of life” – it’s more like $anctity of the Almighty Dollar and its next-of-kin, consumerism.

Republican opposition to ACA (and its on-board birth control), and to programs like WIC and SNAP mean a baby’s life ain’t so precious, but it sure as hell is lucrative when, as of 2017, it means a $233,610 injection into Trump’s made-in-China economy. Yep, that is how much raising a child in the US costs. It’s no wonder having a kid plunges so many into poverty, which is the real shame going on here.

And regarding all those “heartfelt” pleas to adopt? Once again, please follow the money: The average cost of newborn adoption in the US through an agency is $43,239, while an adoption through an attorney is $37,829 (and yes, this would obviously be on top of the $233,610 figure, above, for raising a child). It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that many of these agencies embrace every two-bit piece of no-choice legislation, every roadblock to abortion they can get their money-grubbing hands on, complete with those tearful, bleeding-heart conservative cries of “life.” If you’ve fallen for those, congrats – you’ve been marketed to (or perhaps a better word, considering the times, is “conned”).

Having had a casual discussion with an adoption attorney years ago at a party who was hinting at having me bird-dog “marks” (iow, scared, pregnant girls) for him at Penn State, I’d say it’s the latter. He backed off when I told him to…and after I stated I was pro-choice and that he should just pull himself up by the bootstraps instead of cashing in on female bodies.

Adoption is big business, and no wonder I read about so many coerced adoptions these days. And – update – what about those 1500 “lost” kids separated from their parents at the US/Mexico border? If all those children were “relinquished,” what would they be worth to adoption industry profiteers, using the average agency cost of adoption of $43,239? Multiplying $43,239 by 1500, that would yield the nice juicy sum of $64,858,500.

Yes, that’s $64,858,500. Wow – and that’s just for adoptions. Adding in the figure to raise all of those 1500 children – or $305,415,000 – we get a grand total of $415,273,500. What a godsend those anti-abortion laws and family separations are to those running adoption agencies, government child support services, diaper manufacturers, clothing manufacturers (China, big time), and baby food…and, and, and! Coerced childbirth pays off, and it’s easy to see why and for whom. And – of course – it’s women’s bodies being used to deliver the profitable “product” – a newborn consumer.

But, the pussy-grabbers and money-grubbers left out some very important things, like individual liberty and, if you’re a believer, god-given free will. Those pesky things! And to think, women were actually born with brains, the nerve! We should just all be headless wombs for profiteering, bodies for the taking. No worries, mates – sexbots are on the way, but be warned: You will have to pay for them.

It is no mystery the fetishization of the fetus – i.e., all those signs you see, showing a disembodied, curled up embryo with the woman on whom it depends nowhere to be found – is all the rage among the profiteering right and their pornographic, wallet-driven obsession with my uterus. I was happy to stand in front of them at the March to the Polls:

[Photo by Matt Neufeld]

But, think I will, and choose I do. As the sign below says, My Pussy, My Rules. I make judgement calls every day, from all options available, my uterus being no exception. It’s called informed consent. I alone have the last word regarding what happens to my body, as well as who – whether it is cancer treatment or the right to end a pregnancy I don’t want…or who I share a bed with.

I’d say this lady sure as hell knows what she wants:

Not everything goes as planned, which is why freedom of choice rules. It is no accident that these times give us so many inventive forms of birth control just as we have a environmental and overpopulation nightmare going on (I’d say that’s what “god’s plan” is). Technology advances for a reason – to allow us choices we would not have had back in, say, the 1950s. (If you don’t like technology, then stay the heck off them airliners – god didn’t give you wings, right?)

Coerced pregnancy does not have a place in a free society. A theocracy, yes. A totalitarian society, yes. And in those societies, note how coerced abortion is the other side of the same coin as forced childbearing. It’s an easy flip of the switch, once the totalitarian machinery is in place.

But not here in the Land of the Free, at least, not for real Americans. Real Americans don’t vote against freedom of choice, or individual liberty, or god-given free will.

Reading the Roe v Wade decision, we see that there is no requirement to have an abortion. There are no protesters outside maternity wards, screaming at women not to have their babies. You are free not to have an abortion just as you are free not to have a kid. It’s the same “on all sides,” this freedom of choice thang. But, if legal abortion threatens your “faith,” then that ain’t a faith worth having – and I’m having none of it.

If you don’t have my back on all of that, you don’t have my vote:

We’re at a point in human history where we don’t need to have kids. They don’t complete everyone’s picture, and cost-wise, they are a luxury. I am not about to shirk my responsibilities in helping resolve some of humankind’s problems now, instead of lazily passing them off to the next generation of unknowns. We need clean air now, not 40 years from now, and it may be a woman who will solve this issue – if she isn’t saddled with another unplanned corporate consumer.

Motherhood – and parenthood – is only genuine and loving if it’s freely given. Otherwise, it is mere production. Thus, I err on the side of making this a society where every child is absolutely wanted and cherished, and dripping with their parents’ love and ever-present attention.

I wish the US was a country that loved children, but it isn’t. It has a fantasy-like love affair with fertilized eggs and beliefs, but no respect for the effort it takes to actually carry a fetus to term and then raise the resulting child in what can be a very harsh reality.

So, how can we love kids through meaningful action? Let me count the ways:

But don’t worry your pretty little head on that last one – you can still pay $1000 a month for insurance if you want to. I assure you, insurance firms will come up with a plan, just for you! And they will take your money, if that’s what does it for you.

As Nancy Pelosi, Tim Kaine and many others spoke in front of the Lincoln Memorial on this cold, but sunny and beautiful winter’s day, I snapped this picture of the woman in front of me, and it’s a perfect way to end this blog, reminding everyone to vote, because if you’re a woman or person with a uterus, your life is on the line. If you’re a man, just think of anti-abortion laws as mandatory fatherhood and child support payment laws, because that is just what they are, if you #FollowtheMoney.

Be Well and Free,
Alison

PS – Thanks to Matt Neufeld for two photos in this article, including the featured photo of me at the 2018 DC Women’s March to the Polls at the top of this blog, and where indicated via caption. All photos © Alison Lorraine or Matt Neufeld.

April 29, 2017 – What a too-hot-for-the-season People’s Climate March we had today in Washington, DC, where climate change was on display all afternoon! With so many people sweating and trying to stay hydrated, it was hard to believe this was a day in late April. It felt more like mid-July.

That’s been happening a lot lately, and that was the whole point behind today’s march – that climate change is real, it is caused in no small part by humans, of which there are approximately 7.5 billion now on the planet…in 1970, it was 3.7 billion.

The subject of human population is more important than ever, and it’s among the least talked-about things in popular or political parlance. I find it shocking that humans are still permitted – or even freely volunteer – to reproduce at the rates we do, without so much as a thought for the very environment that supports all things living. And then there’s the cost of raising a child, which in the US as of 2017, was $233,610.

I often think that if the high school sex education conversation included the real environmental impact of another baby on the already environmentally stressed on the world, we’d see yet another drop in pregnancies on top of all the successes in that direction under the Obama administration.

An excerpt from the Guardian article, “Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children,” says this:

The researchers found that government advice in the US, Canada, EU and Australia rarely mentioned the high impact actions, with only the EU citing eating less meat and only Australia citing living without a car. None mentioned having one fewer child. In an analysis of school textbooks on Canada only 4% of the recommendations were high impact.

So, considering this level of denial – and it goes on worldwide – how can we change the conversation? One way is to put a bumper sticker on your car, saying something to the effect, “Hate Traffic? Have Fewer Children.” It will apply every single time you’re in a tie-up, and I’m sure it will get some to think…and perhaps make a few traffic lovers very, very angry.

Another way is reading…and discussing books that deal with sustainability and population issues with others.

I’m with him…and wouldn’t you know it, there was a makeshift bookstand, right smack in the middle of the Mall, with many titles worth getting into. So, yes, dude-with-cool-sign, you can protest and read, too…

…and note the book near the middle, titled appropriately, “Too Many People?”

In an overpopulated world, it’s good to know I am not totally alone.

My mind spinning on all things population as I made my way through the thick crowd, I soon found my group, thanks to the the well-organized People’s Climate March map of where various types of groups were gathering. As I made my way to the Sierra Club contingent on Jefferson, I saw this:

This was right behind where Green America and Sierra Club were gathering…and doesn’t it just have Ben & Jerry’s written all over it? 😉

I’ve been a member of SC for a few years, as it meets the requirements for my investment and involvement: 1) Strong litigation capabilities, 2) Solid infrastructure for individual citizen action, and 3) Fun! But not just any sort of fun – there are groups in every state going out to preserve, protect and enjoy the planet, from hikes in local parks to (hopefully sustainable) group trips around the world.

Finally, the March started, and as we were rounding the corner from Independence onto Pennsylvania avenue, I turned around and saw this person, in costume and on stilts. Just stunning!

But it wasn’t long before I saw him, the Hottest Guy at the DC People’s Climate March, wearing a polar bear suit on a 92-degrees Fahrenheit late April day:

At least he had the sense to take off the top portion of his costume and breathe…and that was when I realized, yep, HE WAS TOTALLY HOT!!

LOL…but this little girl or guy wasn’t so lucky…s(he) was kinda stuck with the condition known as Permanent (Cute) Furry Head.

…but, s(he) had a message:

And, aren’t we all??? Don’t we all deserve policies that help us avoid the cancer, avoid the diabetes, avoid all the sickness brought about by overpopulation and pollution and their damage to our one and only climate?

It was just more proof that the dogs already know the secrets of the universe! I don’t see them picketing women’s clinics, or insisting that Dog/God hates gays, do you?

Next, the obligatory photo marching up Pennsylvania with the Capitol in the background…

…where an impromptu sit-in happened:

After that, the March marched on, and on until we got to the Washington Monument, the White House, or wherever your activist feet took you.

Along the way, I noted something very disappointing, and so here’s a reminder: Please make your signs with recycling in mind. I saw a lot of them simply dumped on sidewalks and streets (not even at Lafayette Park), forcing DC sanitation workers to gather and stuff them into trash cans. We’re supposed to be the good guys, right? Standing for environmental cleanliness and all? I’m all for leaving things better then we found them…

And speaking of signs, I’ll finish off with what I thought were two of the most clever signs…there’s something truly magical about a whole new word that really just says it all:

And this next one says it all, in a very familiar word: DENIAL. Those living along the coasts might do well to invest in a costume like this one:

Hopefully we’ll get our act together, throwing out all present and future Trumps, realizing that if we don’t, it is us who will be sidelined with not only rising seas from climate change, but cancer from the pollution that causes it.

In my case, it’s not “will be sidelined” – it’s “have been.”

Think…and be well,
Alison